The Legacy Begins
by Slytherin's Cliffy Queen
Summary: Yet another LilyJames fic...starts after their fourth year and goes until their deaths...please RR! UP TO CHAPTER 20 NOW! Rated for language and things that happen later on...
1. Chapters 1 and 2

A Legacy Begins…

Please RR...I'll be editing with comments if you have them....there's at least two chapters for almost every page because my chapters are extremely short...here's the beginning...

PROLOGUE

Summary: A Lily/James fanfiction. Begins before their fifth year. Lily and James both hate each other…or so they think. Lily hates James with a passion, whereas James secretly is in love with Lily. However, he is not alone on that prospect: So do three other men. Three other men who, clearly, would also be more appealing than James….

The three man became two all too quickly. The fifth year changed this prospect…

Vanessa Prewitt, a half-blood witch, was Lily Evans' best friend. Lily had her other friends too of course: the students (mainly girls) in her year at Hogwarts. But two of the men that liked her could change everything…

Severus Snape was a greasy oily-haired git who would do anything to harm Potter and his crew. But Lily only saw this as a positive: she hated Potter, he hated Potter, it was all okay. But something, or rather some_one_, had changed the future that Snape had been planning. Someone that, until Vanessa came along, everyone had thought to be Lily's destined husband…

Sirius Black was Lily Evans' best guy friend in Gryffindor. She could talk to him about almost everything—except schoolwork. She was top of her year, closely followed by Potter and Sirius. But she didn't know why this was; Potter was always buried in books on pranks and girls, not on schoolwork. Sirius, until fifth year, had always believed that he and Lily were meant to be—until he found out a secret from his friend…the secret that would change this future into dust…

Chapter One: Lily Evans

Lily Evans woke with a start. It was the first day of her summer vacation, which had started upon her arrival home after getting picked up by her parents at King's Cross station the previous day.

She, like anyone else that attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, valued the summer holidays. The workload was enormous, and everyone enjoyed the time to be with their family, as Hogwarts was like a college—dorms and houses and a second family.

As Lily made her way down the stairs of her house, she found her parents fighting. She loved them with all her heart—but when her mother and father got into a fight, it was always over random things. But this was the final straw for her mother.

She hid herself as she tried to listen to what the fight was over this time.

"You know perfectly well that our daughter needs schooling in that—that _place_, no more! My business is crashing down and I need my money back from her account at her bank!" came the voice of her father, who never really approved of her being a witch. Her sister, Petunia, was a year and a half older than Lily—and wasn't a witch.

Lily's mother had always supported her daughter's entry into the school. However, her father hadn't, and they commonly fought over it. Petunia practically lived in the house next door—where her best friend, Ginger, lived. They were in their own crew called 'The Flowers', as everyone in their group of popular kids from school all had names of flowers: Lily, Tulip, and Poppy just named a few others. The Lily from Petunia's crew was not Lily Evans, she was the twin sister of Daffodil, another girl in 'the flowers' crew.

As Lily's mum kept screaming, she heard some stamping.

"Look, if you want to keep her in that place, then you go ahead. But not under this roof!"

Lily felt rage towards her father. What was he doing, kicking out her mother just because of beliefs? Lily knew what to do, what would stop this argument…

"Father? Mother?" she said, after walking down the stairs. They both resumed a halfway normal position before her mother ran up the stairs, grabbed the few things from the house that mattered most to her, and ran out the door, driving away.

"Father, what happened this time?"

"Unless your mother goes and finds a place to live so you can live there, I don't want you and your abnormality under this roof anymore!" screamed her father, and Lily's eyes teared up. She may not have eaten, may have been starving for food, but she needed to get out of that house, and knew someone who would take her in for the time being: Vanessa.

Vanessa was Lily's best friend, and was in her year/dorm at Hogwarts. Vanessa was a half-blood though, against Lily's Muggle ancestry.

'There's gotta be something I can do to get me out of this mess,' thought Lily, grabbing her trunk, which still had all of her Hogwarts stuff in it (she hadn't unpacked yet), and everything else that was of importance to her. Being that she was always away during the school year, she didn't have very much. She pulled her trunk out and down the stairs in hopes that Vanessa's family wouldn't mind too much her showing up.

Her answer was a smile when she arrived. Granted, it was ten o'clock in the morning, and everyone was awake and happy after a full night's rest, but they took Lily in right away after she explained the situation.

"I just need somewhere to go until my mum can find a place," she said, and Vanessa's mother, Jessica, smiled.

"Of course, darling. We'll try our best to get hold of your mother. For now though we'll just get you settled in a room."

Once Lily got into the room she was going to be living in until she found where her mother was going to, she was greeted by the familiar face of Vanessa.

"LIL!" said Vanessa, giving her best friend a hug.

"Thanks. I needed that," said Lily, stepping backward. Vanessa looked around.

"That's all you have of importance?"

"Well I couldn't really grab much," said Lily, taking the clothes out and putting them in the dresser.

"Lily!" called Mrs. Prewitt, so Vanessa and Lily descended down the stairs.

"Yes, Mrs. Prewitt? Have you gotten ahold of my mother?"

"Yes, I have. She currently is driving to the house she has been renting for awhile, she knew that this day was to come. It's a lovely house down the street a few blocks though," said Mrs. Prewitt.

"Not that far away, that's good. Okay, I'll just go get my stuff," said Lily, grabbing her things once again.

"Your mother will pick you up around eleven o'clock. In the meantime let's have some breakfast," said Mrs. Prewitt, taking the pancakes off the iron and putting them on a plate for Lily.

"Thank you," she said, taking part of the pancake.

"LILY!" called Vanessa five minutes later, and Lily had finished so she therefore went up the stairs.

"What?"

"Here's your birthday present in advance," said Vanessa, smiling. "Your birthday is the third, but I'm not going to see you 'til then, so I figured I'd give this to you," said Vanessa, smiling.

"Thanks," said Lily, taking some of the paper off to reveal a diary along with five Stephen King novels.

"Thank you so much!" she said, a real smile on her face.

That night, Lily was cuddling up in her mother's house, which was just about as big as her former. The room she was to be in could use some serious painting, but besides that it was okay. She lie down that night to think of only one thing: the diary.

'I probably should write something in it,' she thought, picking it up. Inside it was a quill—and a special one at that.

It had a place for every color on it, she noted. She could write in whatever color ink she fancied at the time. She put it on green, to match her eyes, and began to write.

_I've never had one of these things before. I know I should put some anti-breaking charm on it, but I'll have to wait until I'm back at Hogwarts for that. Today Mum and Dad had their final fight—they've split. I'm currently at my mum's house writing this._

_Anyway, I think I'm supposed to write a day's events in this thing, right? Well here goes._

_Today sucked._

_And that is the nice way of saying it._

_I'm starting to wonder what I'm to do with the rest of my summer vacation. Every time I'm by Vanessa's now my father will probably be showing up. He probably thinks that I'm out of the country with Mum right now._

_But that's about all for now. I must get some sleep, as I too get tired. Night._

_Lily_

She then shut the diary, the door, and her eyes as she fell asleep.

Chapter Two: James Potter

Meanwhile, in the Potter mansion, James was having a jolly old time. Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew were all visiting for the summer. James Potter was sitting in his room, daydreaming. As much as he tried to deny it, he still had a soft spot inside him for Lily Evans. She had one of the fieriest personalities possible. But she hated his bloody guts, and would have enjoyed to be the one to kill him.

He was also a prankster, yet one of the smartest guys in the school. He and Sirius were the ringleaders of their crew, the Marauders. They had just finished their small amount of summer homework and were therefore free to do as they pleased.

James felt something was wrong. He didn't know what, but he sensed it. Something was wrong—and it involved Lily.

He went to Sirius about his problem—but he just keeled over laughing.

"James, you've got to get a grip. Ever since we've gone to Hogwarts, you've gone out with at least fifty of the girls in our year and twenty in other years. If you think Lily Evans will be your next, you have got to come back to reality. She hates you James, and she always will. Now me on the other hand, now I'm a different story--" said Sirius, then James hit him.

"Look, Lily's different. She's fiery, abnormal, and, well, beautiful when she wants to be."

"James, _listen to me_ for once! I am friends with Lily! and she never shuts up about her hatred of you!" said Sirius.

'I have to keep Lily away from James,' thought Sirius. 'I didn't think it humanly possible, but Lily might end up falling for him, and I can't risk that.'

An owl came fluttering into the window.

"What's in it?" asked James, as the owl gave the letter to Sirius.

"It's from your infatuation," said Sirius, smiling.

"Lily? She's not my infatuation!"

"Whatever you say, man. Anyway though, yeah this letter is from her," said Sirius, reading the letter aloud.

"_Hey Sirius_

_I'm stuck at my mother's—yeah that's what I mean, my parents got into another fight, but this time my father actuall kicked her out of the house—so I figured I'd let you know in case you were going to owl me something, as I won't be at my old houwse, my father's place, anymore._

_Lily."_

Tears were all over the page, as made clear by the smudging of the letters. James was stunned—he didn't know that Lily's home life had sucked that badly!

Sirius reread the letter. "So her parents are getting divorced. That's just great," said Sirius.

James fell back upon his pillow and dreamed the night away.

'If Sirius gets to her first, I don't know what I'll do. I think I just may love her, and we haven't even gone out yet.'

Sirius took James' snoring for an answer and he too fell asleep.


	2. Chapters 3 and 4

Chapter Three: Lily's Dream

_Lily and James were in the Three Broomsticks, sipping on a butterbeer. They were just about to kiss when—_

Lily woke up, screaming. She had just been dreaming—about James Potter, the most arrogant toerag in her opinion. 'Why was I DREAMING about him?' she thought to herself, getting out of bed. Three owls were waiting for her—today was, in fact, her birthday. The first was a large eagle owl, and it clearly meant that the gifts were from the Malfoy mansion, where Lucius and Severus were staying. Lily never had really liked Lucius, but Serverus was one of the 'best Slytherins made', in Lily's opinion.

Lily opened the gift, taking off the paper quickly. There was a new black robe along with a book inside it—one of the required books for the following year, as her teacher had told her before they left.

Lily took the parcel from the second owl , a brown tawny one, next. It was bearing the Hogwarts crest, so she knew that the owl would have to be on its way.

She opened the letter to find within it a new piece of parchment—a sheet written in emerald ink.

_Miss Lily Evans, _

_Congratulations on making Prefect for this year. This is a great responsibility and comes with a burden. You must sit in the Prefect carriage upon the return to Hogwarts for your instructions._

_We wish you luck this coming year in your OWL exams._

_With congratulatoins,_

_Prof. M. McGonagall_

Lily was shocked. PREFECT! She jumped up and down, shaking the house, and then took the third parcel from the snowy owl that was perchd on the windowsill.

A letter was enclosed.

_Dear Lily,_

_Happy Birthday! This is from all us guys here at James' house for the summer—all four of us—Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter. Hope you like the gift—well you probably will knowing you—_

There was a scribbled note on the end that Lily could barely read.

_Lily, I'm sorry for everything I've done to you. Please forgive me. James_

"I don't know," Lily thought to herself. "I don't know.

Chapter Four: The Meeting

_Lily and James were sitting in the Three Broomsticks, sharing a butterbeeer. He was leaning in to kiss her, but she suddenly disappeared from the dream, as did he._

James woke up with a start.

"Coming. Prongs?"

Sirius' familiar voice echoed from the room next door. His nickname was Prongs because he and Sirius were unregistered Animagi, and they were helping Peter currently to become one. The reason?

Their friend, Remus Lupin, was a werewolf.

At every full moon at Hogwarts, Remus was led away from the students into the Whomping Willow, a violent tree that led to the Shreiking Shack. He would transform there, but James and Sirius would accompany him. For now, that is—once Peter could also transform he would join them in their adventures.

"Yes, I'm coming," said James, putting on his robes. They were going to Diagon Alley that day to get their new schoolbooks so they would already be ready. As Professor Dippit had just died but a few months ago, they were having a ball in his honour that year at Hogwarts, so they needed to get dress robes. When James and Sirius walked in (Remus and Peter had gone home because their birthdays were over the summer and they hadn't gotten their letters yert) they saw two familiar figures in the back of the store.

"Five Galleons—that's not too bad Lil," came the voice of Vanessa.

Sirius stopped in his tracks. Lily was gorgeous in the robes she was wearing—but then, next to her, was another beautiful girl.

"Hey!" Sirius called, skipping over to Lily and the girl.

"Hey Sirius! This is my friend Vanessa, she just got transferred to Hogwarts from Beauxbatons, so she'll get sorted first at the sorting ceremony in Hogwarts. Vanessa blushed, then walked over into her own fitting room.

'Cute' thought Vanessa, 'Very cute.'

Lily and Sirius started an animated discussion for a few minutes until Vanessa came out of the fitting room, dress robes in hand.

"Ready to go, Lily?" she asked, then turned her eyes to Sirius. Sirius was still staring at her, but once she caught his gaze he turned away.

"Yeah. I'll see you later Sirius," said Lily, walking off.

"Ready to go Sirius?" asked James, going back to his friend.

"Yeah, I think so," said Sirius, and they walked off.


	3. Chapters 5 and 6

Chapter Five: The Shock

Lily was smiling after her meeting with Sirius. He may have been a prankster, but he was after all her friend, and hadn't told her secrets to James, no matter how close he was to him.

When she and Vanessa had finished shopping, they took Floo powder back to Vanessa's house, as they were hanging out there for the afternoon.

"So, Lily—" said Vanessa, but Lily interrupted.

"How long have you liked Sirius?"

Vanessa flushed a deep crimson color.

"Since I've met him," she responded, and Lily smirked.

"It's not that hard to tell. He likes you too Vanessa," she said, but Vanessa shook her head.

"No. I don't want to be another kiss-and-run casuality. No, I'll wait for now, until he likes me enough to stay with me," Vanessa responded.

"Well, since we have nothing better to do, want to go work on becoming Animagi, like we had figured we'd do?"

"Definitely. Lessgo," said Vanessa, and they ran up the stairs (they had been lounging by the pool) of Vanessa's house into her room.

Vanessa's room had an Unbreakable Charm on it, placed on the door especially by her mother. Anything they said or did could not be heard from the outside, and any eavesdropping curse would rebound upon its opponet, causing the people in the room to hear everything they said.

Lily attempted first, as she was already an unregisterd Animagus. She turned into a act, with tiger stripes. Vanessa tried to do it, but she was having problems.

"Clear your mind! Not even Sirius can be in it!" said Lily, and her friend began to tranform. She got stuck halfway though, and they waited for five minutes in silence until finally Vanessa turned into an owl—a bright, snowy owl. Lily transformed back into a human, as did Vanessa.

"And to think we thought it would be hard," said Lily, smiling at her friend.

"We need nicknames so we know what form of ourselves we're talking about," said Vanessa.

""You just want a nickname so you can be like Sirius! Anyway, I guess we can—what name did you have in mind?"

"Well, since I'm an owl, maybe something like Beaky?"

"Nah, that sounds just strange…I'll be Tigerlily. Hmm, something that is with owls….Parsley?"

"Ew no! Parsley is disgusting! I dunno, what should I be?"

"Helphart?"

"Actually, that's not half bad!"

"Okay. Now you're Helphart. At least, when you're in your Animagus form."

"And you're Tigerlily."

"Okay."

Time passed, and the two girls chatted away in Vanessa's room—until they were called down by Mrs. Prewitt.

"Lily, your mother seems to have had a bad fall—she fell into some Dungbombs and now is in the hospital. Do you want to go visit?"

Tears covered Lily's eyes. "Yes, I'd like that, thanks."

With that, Mrs. Prewitt drove Lily and Vanessa to the emergency room. Lily ran to her mother's area, where her mother appeared to have passed out.

"She was found at her home by your sister. Lord knows how long she's been lying there."

Lily's eyes once more filled with tears. If her mother died, where would she live?

Chapter Six: The New Term

The summer passed, quite eventfully, unless you were Lily. Her mother still hadn't awaken—but she was still breathing, nonetheless. Lily was wondering what would happen quite worriedly—her father had made it clear that she was not to go back to her school if she lived with him—but she would, if her mother died, have nowhere to go.

Lily's eyes filled with tears once more as she boarded the scarlet train to go to Hogwarts. She had a bad feeling about this.

"Love you Mum," said James, hugging his mother.

"Have a safe trip!" said James' dad.

"I don't want any letters from Professor Dumbledore this year!" said his mother, a grin on her face. "Try to stay out of trouble."

"Trouble is my middle name!" said James, smiling, as he boarded the train. He went down the hall and quickly found the room with Remus, Sirius, and Peter, so he went inside it. But they weren't the only ones in there—so were

"Lily? Vanessa?"

"Leave Lily alone, she doesn't know how much longer her mother will be here, let her be."

"What do you mean Vanessa?"

"Her mother tripped down the stairs. Her mum's a Muggle, see, so she didn't know what happened with Dungbombs—the smoke they gave off made her miss a step on the way down the stairs and she tumbled downwards. Lily's mum is still in the hospital, and has been there approximitely two months. Leave her be."

James looked at Lily, sorrow in his eyes.

"I'm sorry to hear about that," said James, triying not to look guiilty. It had been he that sent Lily Dungbombs for her birthday—and she seemed to know it.

"Potter, I know what you did. Don't think I didn't.

"I never said you didn't!"

"But you were thinking it."

"How would you know?"

"I'm a mind reader."

"Such people don't exist, Evans."

"Yes they do. Like this: I know what you're thinking."

"What is that."

"You're thinking that you want me to leave the compartment now."

"Now I'm not!"

"Yep, I see it in your eyes. 'Those gorgeous eyes,' thought Lily, but snapped out of her thoughts quickly.

"As I do in yours, Evans. Leave the compartment NOW," he said, and she picked up her stuff, looking accomplished, smiled, and walked out.

James watched her figure sit in one of the other compartments before entering his own.

"Vanessa, go comfort your friend."

"Arrogant toerag," said Vanessa, walking out.

"Why'd you say that to Vanessa?" asked Sirius, angry.

"I don't need to keep hearing about Evans," he said. "It hurts the ears and annoys the listeners, not to mention the tellers."

"No, Vanessa is different," said Sirius. "She's eccentric, she's—"

"Way outta your league, man. Snap out of it."

"No."

"Bull, man. Anyway, we need to get this straight about what we're doing for the Slytherins this year…"

And they spent the rest of the trip getting ready for their first prank.


	4. Chapters 7 and 8

Chapter Seven: Prank Kings of the Fifth Year

Upon arrival at Hogwarts, the Marauders (they had figured out how to become an Animagus over the summer) set their first plan into action.

"Padfoot, you know what to do," said James, smiling. Sirius smiled back and head towards the kitchens,

That night at dinner, their first prank of the year became evident—suddenly all the Slytherins had billywigs inside of their food, which had just been transfigured from the Fizzing Whizbees. Dumbledore sighed, turning the Slytherins' food back into the normal feast—with a side touch of Fizzing Whizbees and butterbeer.

"I apologize for Mr. Black's arrogance. Now we may eat!" said Dumbledore, and Sirius sulked.

The fifth year passed quite quickly, to say the least. OWL exams were coming up, so the teachers were putting more and more work upon the students. But you could always trust Sirius and James to lighten the mood. At the Halloween feast, all the Slytherin boys were suddenly only clothed in towels, and the girls in a robe.

Before Christmas, James had found out the password into the Slytheirn Common Room. On Christmas Eve, they got into the common room and used their excellency at Transfiguration to their advantage: they turned all of the gifts into shampoo and dog food.

Around Valentine's Day, James had heard that Lily was meeting up with Snape. To make sure that Snape showered before being seen with Lily and actually cleansed himself, he got into the water pipe area and changed all the water into shampoo and conditioner. It was impossible not to have heard Snape's scream when the 'water' had touched his skin—after all, Mr. I-Never-Clean-My-Hair needed his reputation to remain intact! When Snape showed up in Hogsmeade, however, it wasn't Lily he went to—it was a Slytherin girl. Lily was with Remus!

Chapter Eight: Deaths

"REMUS?!" exclaimed James upon seeing them together in the Three Broomsticks. They both flushed a deep scarlet.

"Hello," said Remus finally.

"Can I talk to you Mo-Remus?"

"Sure. Be right back Lily," said Remus, as James pulled him aside.

"Why are you here with Lily?" James asked him once they were out of earshot of Lily.

"I remember that a guy is allowed to go out with a girl," Remus responded.

"Yeah, but not when his best friend happens to li—oh, nevermind."

"Yes, mind. What were you just about to say?"

"Nothing!" said James, stalking out of the Three Broomsticks.

Remus returned to Lily.

"What was that all about?" she asked him.

"I don't know—James has been acting strange lately," said Remus, looking away.

"Are you another prat who just thinks I'm too stupid to pay attention?" asked Lily, hurt.

"No, I just think James may have an itsy bitsy crush on you, Lily."

"What rubbish," said Lily, as she grabbed her books and walked out.

That night in the common room, James had found out that Remus and Lily had been doing nothing else than a bit of innocent studying,

"Moony, you know how I feel about her. Please, PLEASE, resist the temptation I know she gives off and leave her for me?"

"I did nothing besides study with her, Prongs. Calm down."

James couldn't help but feel there was more than innocent studying going on.

The next few months flew by eventless—until the eve of the Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL exam. Lily received a letter that night.

_Dear Miss Evans,_

_We regret to inform you that your mother has passed away after her many months of being in a coma We offer our dearest sympathies, but must also add in that your father seems to have gone with her. Your sister has been sent to a Muggle boarding school, but the consequences for you are not as bad._

_You have a great friend out there Miss Evans, named Vanessa Prewitt. Her family has agreed to take you in until you get out of your schooling and are old enough to live alone._

_Your mother has left her house to you, along with her fortune, and your father has left his money to you and house to your sister Petunia. _

_With Sympathy,_

_The Ministry of Magic_

At least twenty five people were signed underneath.

Lily's eyes swelled up, tears forming within them. She wanted to cry, but she didn't dare—not when James Potter could easily find her and make fun of her for it, making her day even worse.

Lily was in the common room at the time and was unable to move her legs. As she started to cry into the pillow, she heard voices coming in the common room.

"Quiet!" said one, and Lily recognized the voice—Remus'.

"Is anyone in there?"

Lily quickly curled up, hiding underneath the blankets.

"Someone's here, I can feel it."

"Who then?"

"Evans. COME OUT EVANS!"

"She's not here, come on just take off this damn cloak," came Sirius' voice, and soon four bodies materialized in the common room: James', Remus', Sirius', and Peter's.

Three of the boys hurried right up the stairs, whereas one of them stayed. Lily suddenly felt a huge lump sitting on top of her…


	5. Chapters 9 thru 11

Chapter Nine: The DADA OWL Exam

"James Potter, get off of me now," said Lily, and he moved.

"I knew you were here. Keep your mouth shut," he said, and, much to his and Lily's surprise, Lily obeyed.

"Much easier that way, Now, Evans, you better keep your mouth shut about what you saw," said James, but he looked into her eyes. 'Big mistake! Don't look into her eyes, ever! Big big big mistake, her eyes are so lovely! But why are they wet?'

"Li-Evans, why do you look like you were crying?"

"No reason," said Lily, wiping away her tears and starting to walk up the stairs to her dorm.

"Lily, come back!" James called, and she turned around.

"Potter, just leave me the—argh, I can't even talk to you right now!" said Lily, then kept going up the stairs.

James quickly Summoned Lily's diary (he had seen her writing in it) and used his self-invented Duplication spell to make a copy that would edit itself when she wrote new entries in it and Banished hers back to her dorm. He hid his new copy in his pocket, grinned, and walked up to his own dorm.

((A/N: Read the post-DADA OWL exam passage from OotP—that's what goes here))

Chapter Ten: The Ride Home

Lily was so upset at herself for blowing up that she had figured she'd apologize to James for her comments.

Snape knew that what he said was wrong, and he had probably lost all of Lily's trust. He knew who was to blame though—Potter.

James was upset with himself, as he had yet again made a fool of himself in front of Lily Evans. He liked her quite the lot inside, but he couldn't show a bit of it—who knew what would happen if he did?

The last day of school and the day of the train ride home came pretty quickly. When Lily arrived back at the station, she found Mrs. Prewitt, wo was taking her home. Lily had the key to her house now, and she was going to take advantage of it—she had already told Vanessa's parents that she was going to live in there, and if there were any problems she'd contact them.

James, on the other hand, was a bit shocked when he saw where his car was going.

"Mum, why are we driving this way? This isn't the road home," he said, looking around at the unfamiliar street names.

"We got a new and bigger place somewhere else, darling. You'll like it a lot," said Mrs. Potter, smiling.

When they pulled up to their new house, Lily looked out the window. The people across the street had moved—at least one thing was going the right way! When the people jumped out of the car, Lily jumped back in shock. It was the Potters.

Chapter Eleven: New Neighbors

Lily immediately took out the rubber band holding back her hair. She had to make it look like she was someone else, or she knew what tormenting from James would be on the way. She dressed herself fairly well as her doorbell rang.

She hoped she'd disguised herself enough as she opened the door.

"Hello dear! Is your mother home?"

"No, she's not," said Lily, bursting into tears.

"What's wrong?" asked the woman.

"My mum and dad both died this past year, and my mum left this place to me," explained Lily. Two other people from across the street began jogging over.

'Wow, that girl could give even Lily a run for her money,' thought James, looking at Lily.

"Take a picture, it lasts longer," said Lily, looking at James. James seemed taken aback.

"I don't think we've met. I'm sorry, but you're just so beautiful," he said, and it was true—Lily's new look made her even prettier than her normal self.

"I'm Lexy Marteny," said Lily, using her Ravenclaw friend's name. She wanted to see what information she could get out of Potter with him believing she was someone else.

"Nice to meet you Lexy, I'm James Potter. I think I may have seen you around Hogwarts—do you go there?"

"Yes, I do," said Lily, "I'm in Ravenclaw though. You're a Gryffindor, correct?"

"Yes, I am," said James, smiling. "Why had you been crying?"

'Strange, for a minute there with the crying I had thought this girl was Lily Evans. Lily can't even match up to this chic!' thought James, and then snickered.

"What is so funny James?" asked Lily in a sweet voice when she really wanted to punch in his face.

"I was remembering how much you look like a girl I know from school," he said. "A girl that hates me with a passion I knew never existed."

"Oh," said Lily/Lexy, understandingly. He smiled as his mother asked Lily something that was sure to make for an interesting summer.

"Do you want to live with us for the time being? You and James seem to be getting along, and I would like to do all I can to help you with your—er—loss," said Mrs. Potter, smiling at Lily.

Now Lily, as herself, would have normally said flat-out no. But, figuring that she'd act like every other James-Quidditch-crazy-fangirl, decided to accept.

"Yes, I'd love to," said Lily/Lexy, smiling. James smiled back.

'She smiles like Lily and talks like Lily but she isn't Lily. Maybe at least this girl will like me,' thought James. 'Lily doesn't take a second look at me—and I have the looks from every other girl in the whole school!'


	6. Chapters 12 and 13

Chapter Twelve: Settled In

Lily began to get herself settled in her new 'house'. James was, surprisingly, being quite a gentleman. 'This is a side of him I haven't seen before,' thought Lily, then pushed the thoughts aside. 'You're batty, Lily.'

'You mean Lexy.'

'Shut Up Lily!'

'But you're Lexy!'

"Why are you talking to yourself?" Lily asked herself aloud, quietly, as there was a knock on the door.

"Hey James!" said Lily, pretending to blush.

"Lexy, I wanted to know something."

"What is that?"

"Do you know Lily Evans?"

Lily had to try not to erupt with laughter at this. What was she supposed to say, "No I don't know who I really am?"

"Yes, I know her. She's in my class for Arithmancy," said Lily/Lexy, knowing that he didn't take Arithmancy and therefore couldn't assume that she didn't have that class with the Ravenclaws.

"Could you, you know, talk to her for me?"

"What ever about?"

"Well, I kinda—well, I don't know how to put this, but I—I like her."

Lily was shocked at her own acting abilities. If she even had a little less ability, she would have began to fling herself at him in confusion—she had lately begun to have slight feelings for him, but nowhere near enough for her to tell him it was her.

"That's nice to know, I'll tell her for you," said Lily/Lexy, a grin coming across her face.

"Well, I think she knows," said James. "But she finds me to be a right old pillock. What should I do?"

"I don't know James. Right now she seems to have a thing for a couple of your best friends—"

"You mean Remus and Sirius?"

"Well, Sirius yes, but Remus no…the other one is a Slytherin, Severus Snape."

That name echoed inside his head all night. "Severus Snape. HOW COULD SHE LIKE HIM? Wait, how would this girl know unless she was one of Lily's best friends?

He ran over to her room again, forgetting to knock, then flung open the door. Lily/Lexy looked flustered, then she hid her homework from view.

"I do go to Hogwarts, I know what kind of homework we have," he said, smiling. "And I kind of need some help."

"What with?" she asked, smiling even with her red face.

"Charms. Is that one of your good classes?"

"Hel—I mean yes, it is."

"Will you help me then?"

"Well I was currently working on my Arithmancy, but I guess I could take a break—"

"THANK YOU!" he burst out, then he too blushed.

Lily/Lexy blushed and then grabbed his homework.

"Okay. Well you see this is what you do—" said Lily/Lexy, then showed him. She barely noticed his hand creeping around her waist. When she finally did notice, he took it off, flushed, and then ran out of the room.

"James, wait!" said Lily/Lexy. 'I got myself into this mess, I have to keep acting as if I'm another crazy fangirl of his. Go me,'

James walked back. "I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to get so close so quick," he said, then realized she wasn't backing away. She was walking even closer.

Just as he was about to kiss her an explosion went off in her room. She turned around happily, thinking 'Anything so I don't have to touch his bloody lips', and then noticed nothing had happened—and turned back to see no James, but a stag had taken his place.

"James?" she asked, as he transformed back.

"Surprised?" he asked, grinning. Lily then transformed herself into her Animagus form—the cat with tiger stripes.

"You look like a tiger," said James.

"Yeah, my friend calls me Tigerli—" Lily/Lexy began to say, then walked back into her room, realizing what she had almost revealed.

"What does your friend call you?" James asked, wondering what she couldn't even say.

"Nothing," said Lily/Lexy, shutting the door.

A couple weeks passed uneventfully until the doorbell to James' house rang one day to reveal someone standing there, drenched from the rain.

"Sirius?"

Chapter Thirteen: Revealations

"Hey Prongs," said Sirius. "A little help here?"

"What happened?"

"The bloody bastards kicked me out!" said Sirius loudly. "THEY KICKED ME OUT!"

"Why?"

"Because I had 'dishonored the name of Black'. What bullshit," said Sirius.

"Woah there Padfoot calm down. I think we have a little beauty with us here that may be nice for you to meet," said James, taking Sirius' stuff up to the other guest room, then walked to 'Lexy's' door.

"Lexy? You there?"

Lily/Lexy opened the door. When she saw Sirius, his face fell.

"How'd you get Lily to come here?"

"What do you mean? This is Lexy Marteny, she's a Ravenclaw from Hogwarts, I've been talking to her," said James, looking from Lexy (Lily) and back to Sirius.

"Sure she is," said Sirius. "Can I see your arm Lexy?"

"Yes, sure, why not?" said Lily, but remembered too late what she had just showed Sirius—proof it was her. He had been there that fateful day at broom practice when she had managed to fall off the broom and get only a scratch—but the scar would forever be on her arm.

Sirius grabbed her arm, found the scar, and showed James.

"See? It's our Lily here, not some Lexy chic," said Sirius, grinning.

"I don't believe you," said James to Sirius, before Lily's bubble burst. She couldn't break up James and Sirius' friendship because of her wish for laughter and a nice summer.

"James, wait," called Lily, going back to her normal Lily voice.

"Okay, how did you do that. You sounded like Evans there for a minute."

"Oh so now I'm Evans?"

"No, Lily is Evans, you are Lexy!"

"No I'm not," said Lily, showing Sirius her Animagus form.

"That's Lily's animagus there. Vanessa and I were talking, she said Lily's new nickname was 'Tigerlily," said Sirius, matter-of-factly.

James looked back and forth from Sirius to Lily.

"I still can't believe it!"

Lily grabbed her hair and put it back, then grabbed a towel and wiped off her makeup. Then she pulled out her hair 'extensions' she had gotten for her birthday from her friends (they could be put in and taken out multiple times) and James saw the resemblance.

"Now you even LOOK like Lily. But there's no way this girl could be Lily Evans, I mean, she almost let me kiss her!"

"Woah! Lily, you almost did that?"

"I had to play along and make him think I was really Lexy."

"Does Lexy Marteny even exist?" asked James, and Lily nodded.

"Yeah, she does. She really is a Ravenclaw, I didn't make any of that up. Sorry James!" she added, shutting her door and leaving both James and Sirius to their very confused thoughts.

James suddenly remembered something he had told Lily—something that could get him into quite the lot of trouble—

"LILY!" he called down the hall, running towards her door. Lily answered it.

"What? You want to kill me now?"

"No, I just remembered what I showed you—please please PLEASE don't tell anyone about my being an Animagus!"

"I will."

"Will what?"

"What do you mean?"

"What will you do?"

"I will do what you said to do."

"Which part?"

"The second part. Ignore the first few words."

"Wait—you're going to tell?"

"NO, Potter. The words I am telling you to ignore are the three 'please's you had in there that have no meaning whatsoever to me. I will keep your secret—along with the one you had about me," said Lily, smiling her normal smile, and James came to realize something.

'She really is beautiful—she just doesn't try hard enough. I think I just fell for Lily Evans even more by her tricking me. Merlin, what is wrong with me? She tricks me and I fall more deeply for her? WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?' thought James, but he walked into his respective bedroom and fell asleep straight away. 


	7. Chapters 14 and 15

A/N: One review but I'm still updating....there'll be up to 20 chapters now...please R/R!!!! I need comments/suggestions!!!

-------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Fourteen: The Hogwarts Express

Lily hid in her bedroom for the rest of the vacation. James had told his mother who Lily really was, but Mrs. Potter did not throw her out.

"James, don't you see? She wanted to see what type of girl you'd fall for!" said his mother, but Lily backed away in fear.

"No, Mrs. Potter. I only pretended to be someone else because I am a different person than he thinks once I am away from school," said Lily, looking at James.

After that episode, Lily had locked herself in her room at the Potters' mansion; afraid of letting her other secrets spill out to James. He was not the same over the summer as he was during the school year—actually, he was a nice guy!

Lily only exited her room to go to the bathroom, but happened to overhear and view a shocker one day—a giant shaggy dog, looking like the Grim, accompanied by a stag (That she knew was James' in his Animagi form) in there, both talking about her!

'It's harmless to just hear what they're saying…' thought Lily, listening in.

"James, it is so obvious you love Lils. Trust me, I know. How could you though? You knew how much I liked her!"

James voice came from the stag. "I'm sorry Padfoot! I don't even know why, but I've liked her a lot recently."

"Recently as in since when?" said the giant shaggy dog, which Lily recognized the voice, full of anger, as Sirius'.

"I don't know, like our first year," said James, and Lily decided the time was right to open the door.

"Oops, sorry—you've liked whom since your first year?"

Sirius/Padfoot looked at Lily, then back to James.

"She knows your Animagi form?" he asked, trying to get the subject away from the girl Lily probably thought was someone else.

"Yes, I do. Who were you two talking about?"

"No one!" they said together, too quickly.

"I'll take your word for it for now. Anyway I have to go to the lav, may I?" she asked.

"Why not?" replied Sirius and James, then they left the room, changing back into their normal forms.

Lily sat down, disbelievingly. Sirius liked her? How could he? He knew how much schoolwork meant to her, how could he possibly even think she'd be ready for a boyfriend?

The rest of the summer passed in blazing snshine—soon it was time for the return to Hogwarts on the Hogwarts Express. The three students had gone to Diagon Alley during the summer and gotten their new books, and, by their career path they wished to take, many of them were in different subjects. Lily and James both wanted to be Aurors, so they were in all the same classes—Charms, Defense Agaisnt Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Tranfiiguration, and their special classes "Advanced DADA' and 'Advanced Charms'. Sirius was only in a few classes, as he just wanted to open a joke shop—he was taking Charms, Transfiguration, DADA (everyone had to take those three staple classes), and Potions. Remus wanted to teach Defense Against Dark Arts, so he only needed the three staple classes along with Advanced DADA. Peter just wanted to marry someone rich, so he only was taking the three staple classes, and Vanessa wanted to be in the Ministry, so she took the three staple classes, History of Magic, and the new class ' Dealing with Reality'. She was also, since her main goal was to be in the Department of Magical Games and Sports, was told to try out for the Quidditch team.

When the Marauders arrived, they already had plans for the entire year as to a prank a month. When they took their seats in the Great Hall post-sorting, their first prank was put into action.

Chapter FifteenThe Pranksters' Sixth Year

James used a Switching Spell to make the Slytherins' drinks Veritatserum (he owned a tad bit of it, but enough to spread it out amongst most of the Slytherins. Suddenly, the Slytherins were telling all their deepest secrets, including their secret crushes, secret lives, and personal information.

"I love that kid Tom!" came the voice of one.

"What Miss Fenchin?" asked Professor Dumbledore, as she had said it so loudly everyone in the hall had heard her.

"I'm sorry," said the girl, as Snape's voice rose above the crowd.

"Who were you with last night?" he asked Lucius.

"Narcissa Black, you know, that chic that doesn't mind to have some good—"

"MR. POTTER!" said Dumbledore, looking at James, who was laughing his head off.

"What is it Professor?"

"What did you change the Slytherins' drinks to this year?"

"What ever are you talking about?" asked James in his sweet, innocent voice—and Professor Dumbledore just smiled and everyone went back to eating, the Slytherins blurting out the answers to whatever was asked to them.

"Funny," said Lily to James. "Seriously, did you ever wonder why the Slytherins hate you so much?"

"Yeah. Because Slytherins hate Gryffindors," said James.

"And vice versa," said Sirius, grabbing a bit of the chicken from his plate and eating it.

"Not all Slytherins hate Gryffindors," said Lily. James just laughed.

"Yeah. They all just hate you, not Gryffnidors," responded James. Lily looked at him, hurt filling her eyes.

"I at least am nice to them."

"Yeah, and look what that got you last year," said James, recalling the time when he and his crew had hung Snape upside down, only to have Snape say that he didn't need help from a 'Mudblood'. Snape still hadn't forgiven Potter for that—or Lily, for that case. He still had that little soft spot for the certain Gryffindor…even though she was a Muggle-born witch.

As September passed eventles, October pushed in, taking over. On the eve of Halloween, yet another prank was pulled at the feast. Just as everyone's food appeared in Gryffindor, all the food of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs came up, not as quickly though, and Slytherin waited a good ten minutes before someone told Dumbledore.

"Professor, we have no food," said a Slytherin seventh year.

Dumbledore looked at their plates.

"Sorry, someone—" at that he shot a glance at James and Sirius, "—must have made your plates unenchanted—let me see," said Dumbledore, raising his hands and saying something under his breath, which James recognized as the food-appearing spell. But the twist on the prank then came out—fish eyes, dog bones, wolf tails, and other body parts of different animals appeared on the plates. All but three of the Slytherin girls jumped up in fear, as the food was still moving.

"Sorry about that, must have said the wrong thing," said Dumbledore, casting another spell and the Slytherins' food now appeared—but all those of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs disappeared.

"Mr. Potter, please give the Slytherins their normal food."

"They have it though, Professor."

"But now our other two houses have no food."

"Oh. Forgot about that."

"Yes, you clearly did, Potter," muttered Lily as Professor McGonagalll said it.

"Sorry Professor," said James, then looked at Sirius, who had just Tranfigured the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables into dead chickens, turkeys, and other meat items.

"Bon apetite!" said Sirius, smiling, as he and James went up the stairs to their common room.


	8. Chapters 16 and 17

Chapter Sixteen: Pranks-meade.

As the next few months flew by, the pranksters didn't stop with their—pranks. They still spent every day plotting their prank of the month.

In November, they changed the spaghetti to snakes.

In December, they had a prank planned, but it didn't work—they thought they would be the only ones staying over vacation, forgetting Lily. She, of course, got ahold of their plans, and ripped them up. All they got that month was the password into the Slytherin Common Room—and no one knew that they knew it except themselves.

In January, once all the students had returned, they put a charm on all the ink bottles they came across, making them invisible, and taking them. By the end of the month they had around five hundred ink bottles, but, as they were invisible, no one knew they had them. It wasn't until they spilled it over all the Slytherins, then said the spell to make it appear ("_Appareo!"_) and suddenly all of the people in Slytherin were found covered in ink.

But there was no proof they had pulled any of these pranks—the only thing saying they had was every person's gut instinct, but that wasn't enough.

As February and the next Hogsmeade visit drew nearer, the February prank was pulled—the Slytherins woke up not able to speak! A Jawbind potion (purposely made wrong as to delay the time it would take for the potion to take effect) had been put into all the Slytherin's drinks the previous night at dinner.

The following day was the Hogsmeade visit. Lily had planned to go with Vanessa, as they had some shopping to do—but Vanessa didn't show up at the meeting place!

Lily walked into Hogsmeade alone to see Vanessa kissing Remus!

'Well, at least she's having a good time,' thought Lily, chuckling, as she drew back quickly from the pub.

Unfortunately for Lily, she ran into none other than James Potter and Sirius Black on her time alone in Hogsmeade.

"Evans, do you know where our bud Remus is?" asked James, cruelly.

"No, Potter, I don't," lied Lily, but was forced upon a wall this time.

"Evans, I am serious. WHERE IS REMUS?"

"What would make you think I knew anything about Remus' location?"

"The fact that we saw him earlier with Vanessa and we knew she was coming here with you today. We figured you may have gone looking for Vanessa and run into Remus." said James, proudly.

"Don't look so proud Potter," said Lily, hiding reality from his view. "You speak rubbish. Now I'd like it if you let me go," said Lily, and James moved out of the way—though he didn't want to.

He wanted to hold on to Lily, and he had no clue why.

"You may pass," muttered James, confused on why ever he'd actually obey Lily Evans.

"Thank you Potter," said Lily, making her way through the path. James, confused on how he could even like her, watched her diaappear—and once she did, he and Sirius head towards The Three Broomsticks.

Chapter Seventeen: Pranks, Girls, and an Enchanted Map

As March came and went, the Marauders seemed to have struck again. The Slytherin Common Room password hadn't changed—so, naturally, when everyone was in classes, Sirius excused himself, heading into the Slytherin common room.

He casted the spell he had learned back in second year, 'Spongify!', on all the items in the Common Room. He then conjured a Muggle-kind of artifact, a surveiillance camera, and used 'Wingardium Leviosa!' to lift it up, sticking it onto the ceiling. "I have to see this," said Sirius, smiling, as he took the other end of the surveillance camera and brought it to the Gryffindor common room.

Everyone enjoyed the show that night—as Spongify needed to be reversed to change the condition, it was fun to watch the Slytherins sit down on their couch and then bounce up to the ceiling, coming right back down upon the couch again, and continuing the up-and-down motion until they finally changed their position on the way down to land on the floor. Even little things, like the carpets and stairs, Sirius had put the charm upon everything—so as a Slytherin touched it, the person would bounce in the opposite direction. They couldn't even exit their common room, as the door had the Spongify placed upon it, so they were stuck like that—until Dumbledore went in, and he Gryffindors went silent.

"Gryffindors, the show is over. You can be sure I will catch whichever one of you made this mess," said Professor Dumbledore, and the whole of Gryffindor house sulked—the show was over.

April was the time of the next Quidditch match. As Lily had made the team as a Chaser that year, she and James both made their way down to the Quidditch field that night.

"Immature," she muttered, grabbing her broom from the cupboard holding hers.

"Too mature," said James, smirking, as he grabbed his own broom.

As they all flew out, there appeared to be no Slytherin team.

"WHERE ARE THE BLOODY COWARDS?" asked the commentator, John Jordan.

"Language. Jordan!"

"Sorry, Professor! Where are the Slytherins?" he asked, just like everyone else in the stadium.

But the Marauders had struck again. Everyone suddenly saw three broomsticks flying themselves at James and Sirius, hittng him.

"What the bloody hell is this about Potter?" asked Lily.

"Who knows?" said James, smiling as he Transfigured the broom in front of him back into a normal person. All the other brooms had also followed suit, turning into the normal Silver Arrows (the Malfoy family had made a very generous donation and that was probably why Lucius Malfoy was captain of the Slytherin team).

Gryffindor won the match with a score of fifty to three hundred seventy. "There hasn't been that huge a blowout since 1879," said James, telling the team. "Well done."

That night Lily fell asleep in the common room—and woke up in James Potter's bed.

"WHY THE BLOODY HELL AM I IN HERE?!" asked Lily, waking up the whole dorm.

"Did you and Prongs get your groove on last night or something?"

"No, nothing happened Padfoot," said James, waking up. "I slept over here."

"Why am I even here?"

"You fell asleep downstairs and I couldn't get in the girls' dorms to put you in there—I hoped you wouldn't mind. Don't worry, nothing happened."

"It better not have, 'cause if it did you myaswell be running for your life right now," said Lily, getting out of bed and going back into the girls' dorms, where questions were fired at her from every direction.

"We all saw James take you up to his dorm, the sweetie!"

"Did you guys do anything up there?"

"Besides kiss?"

"Besides making out?"

"Besides—"

"Shut your bloody traps. Nothing happened, he swore it to me, and for once I am going to have to believe him," said Lily, turning away as she grabbed her school robes and put them on, ready for a full day. She couldn't stop thinking about how kind James—_Potter_, had been to her the previous night. With any other girl he would have brought her to his dorm and had some 'fun' with her. Why didn't he do that to her? 


	9. Chapters 18 and 19

Chapter Eighteen: The Bravery of a True Gryffindor

May flew by, with the normal monthly Marauder prank. This time it was just as simple as Dungbombs in Malfoy's and Snape's cups, so when they tried to kiss someone they would have horrid breath.

Later, on the eve of June first, was a full moon. James approached Sirius before they left for their 'fun' with Moony.

"Snape knows?" came a voice, Peter's.

"WHAT?!" said James, a bit loud from the corner.

"I told Snape just to prod the knot on the tree! He's going to get himself killed!" said Sirius happily.

"Yeah, and we all want that, but then we'll be expelled! Not to mention if he even gets a GLIMPSE of Moony it'll be all over the school by tomorrow! When is he going?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if he's already been hit by the Willow," said Sirius, realising James' point.

"Let's go, we need to get him out of there, or at least STOP HIM from going there," said James, deciding almost immediately what he had to to—they had to stop him.

When James' got outside the school, he saw the Willow attacking someone—and that greasy hair only belonged to one person.

"IMMOBILUS!" shouted James, aiming his wand at the tree. The tree froze as James went over to it, and found Snape with several gushes of blood on his robes etc.

"Lupin is a—a werewolf!" said Snape, trying to hide how frightened he was.

"Yeah, he has been since he was six, now let's get you up to the hospital wing," said James. "_Petrificus Totalus!_" said James, and Snape fell to the ground in a full-body bind. "_Fethartreiw!_" he added, and Snape suddenly became the weight of a feather. James grabbed Snape's hand ('Does he ever wash it? This is gross, why am I doing this, I hate Snape, why did I save him?' running through his head), and brought him to Dumbledore's office.

"Butterbeer?" said James hopefully. Having been in Professor Dumbledore's office quite often, he knew where it was and the shortcuts to get there. He just hoped he had the password correct.

But the entrance did not open.

"Fizzing whizbees! Acid pops! Sherbert lemon! Lemon drop! Ice mice! Bertie Bott's Beans! No, he doesn't like them…er…Chocolate Frog!" said James, and suddenly the entrance opened.

"Really? I wasn't serious," said James, walking up the stairs.

"Professor Dumbledore, there's been a bit of a problem," said James. Dumbledore smiled.

"So I see. What happened here?"

"Snape must have seen Mo—Remus going towards the Whomping Willow sometime and wanted to try it himself," said James, conveniently leaving out how Sirius had told him what to do.

"Well, obviously, he wasn't successful. Up you go, Mr. Snape," said Dumbledore, lifting Snape up and magiking a stretcher.

"Madam Pomfrey will take care of him," said Dumbledore. "As for you, Mr. Potter, have a good night's rest." And with that, Dumbledore was back to his work.

"Oh, and Mr. Potter?"

"Yes, sir?"

"You showed true Gryffindor bravery back there saving Mr. Snape. I award Gryffindor house forty points."

"Thank you, Professor. Oh, and—"

But Dumbledore cut him off. "I will inform Mr. Snape of the night's happenings when he wakes. He will be forbidden from telling Mr. Lupin's secret or he will be expelled."

"Thank you, Professor."

"Mr. Potter?"

"Yes, Professor?"

"Care for a lemon drop?"

James chuckled, he had thought for a minute he'd be in trouble.

"No thanks Professor," he said, descending down the stairs.

Chapter Nineteen: The Reactions

James went into the Great Hall for breakfast the following morning

Vanessa and Lily were there. He caught their glances, but once he'd seen their glace they'd turned away.

"Damn it, I was really hoping for something there," said James, smiling.

Later on that evening he caught Lily staring again. 'Why does she keep looking at me?' he wondered.

When Lily had left (looking at James again before leaving), James went over to Vanessa.

"Hey—what's up with Lily? I keep catching her looking at me."

"Dumbledore told everyone at the feast about your bravery, pulling Snape out of that tree. Lily was, to say the least, shocked that you would do such a thing. She keeps looking at you to make sure you don't cause any problems—she may just be thinking about you the way you think about her."

"How did you know—I mean, what would give you that idea?"

"The fact that ever since she blew up in your face last year you've stopped asking her out. Oh, and also the fact that it's painfully obvious—the expression you get when you're around her and all. Also, allow me to quote: 'How did you know?' I'm surprised she hasn't gotten it through her head yet how you feel about her."

"How do you think I could win her over?"

"You really like her don't you?"

"More than I've ever liked a girl before," he said truthfully.

"Well, the year is almost over. Maybe if you matured a bit over the summer," said Vanessa, but James got the drift.

"If I matured and quit being an arrogant toerag?"

"Yeah."

"Is there a chance you'd go out with me over the summer? I could use some help with this maturing thing, and I have liked you a bit…it'll make Sirius jealous of me and Lily jealous of you. Maybe then she'll realize how she likes me."

Vanessa was stunned. She always _had _had a thing for James, but for Sirius more—and this was definitely a way to make Sirius jealous…and make Lily see how much she liked him.

"Sure. One condition though."

"What is that?"

"No one-night-stand and no sex. Sorry, but I'm not that kinda girl—and nor is Lily."

"Done."

Vanessa smiled and left the room.

'Why does he care so much for Lily?' she wondered.

'Well,' came another voice from the back of her head, 'he loves her. He'll do anything to get her, and if this is how, he'll do it.'

'I'm only doing this to make Sirius jealous and Lily realize how much she likes him underneath her pathetic coverup.'

'No, you like him. You're wasting time. Go back and tell him 'no', you can do better than him.'

'I'm doing this for all four of us—Lily, James, Sirius, and me.'

'Rubbish. You know it.'

"Great, now I'm fighting in my head. I'm going schizofrenic. AAH!" said Vanessa, and then realized who had been beside her the whole time.

"I heard everything downstairs," said Lily.

"_Everything?_"

"Well, prettymuch everything. You are going out with Potter now, and that you are doing it to get Black jealous. That's all I heard or found important in that conversation."

"Sure, Lils. I'm sleeping. Night." 


	10. Chapter 20 it's long enough on its own

Chapter Twenty: Case of the Missing Evans

Time to leave Hogwarts came quickly. Gryffindor won the house cup again, with 522 points. When they got back, Lily remembered her problem: she had no where to go. Last year she had spent at the Potters', but she didn't want to stay there again. Vanessa had offered to take her over the summer, but she had left already (her mum worked two jobs and couldn't wait for Lily to get off the train.) When she thought no hope remained, she got picked up in a bag, a Silencing Charm was placed upon herself and the bag, and she was brought somewhere—somewhere that was not familiar at all.

"You know you want me Evans," said the boy, who Lily recognized as the Slytherin seventh year (just graduated) Matt Flint.

"No, I don't," said Lily, as she realized she still had no voice.

"Yes you do," said Flint, grabbing her bag and bringing it to somewhere else she knew not of. She suddenly felt her clothes disappearing within the bag, and when she was fully naked the bag had bust. Flint was climbing on top of her—but, a she used to wrestle other boys, she was able to get out, grab her wand, and mutter the Full-Body Bind at him, along with the Silencing Charm. She then magiked herself some new clothes ('Setholcno!') and left—but, having no clue as to where she was, she walked around the house. The Full-Body bind was beginning to diminish from Flint's body—his legs were moving once more.

As she found a telephone, she picked it up and dialed Vanessa's home number, walking outside (it was a portable phone) with her wand and trunk (she found the bag with her clothes inside of it, her trunk with her stuff) and therefore found the street name and house number.

"Vanessa?" she said, and Vanessa answered her.

"_Lily? Where are you? You didn't come with me!_"

"The reason you couldn't find me was because some Slytherin graduate had got me in a bag and put a Silencing Charm on it. He tried to rape me, but I got the better of him—he's probably waking right now. Your mum can Apparate right?"

"_Yeah._"

"I'm at 822 Sly Snake Lane. Tell her to Apparate here and pick me up—oh wait—no, that won't work, I can't Apparate with her—um, well, can you use Floo Powder and come pick me up?"

"_Be there in two minutes_," said Vanessa from the other line, and they both hung up.

True to her word, two minutes later Vanessa came tumbling out of the fireplace.

"Hey Lil! You okay?"

"A couple bruises and my ego is hurt, but besides that no," said Lily.

"Okay—I brought some extra floo powder to go back, just say '915 Griffen Lane'—that's my house number and address and all."

Lily didn't waste one more minute. She walked right into the fireplace with her trunk and everything, said "915 Griffen Lane" into the fire, and came out of the fireplace at Vanessa's house.

A minute later, Vanessa came tumbling out. "Flint woke up," she explained. "Needless to say he was not happy—but I put him back in a Full-Body Bind so he's lying down again," said Vanessa proudly.

"I'm just hoping we don't get expelled for the use of magic," said Lily, and the smile from Vanessa's face vanished. "Forgotten, have we? We can't use magic outside of school until we graduate!"

As Vanessa almost replied, there was an owl flying towards them.

"Great, just great," said Vanessa, as Lily and herself opened up their letters.

_Dear Miss Evans,_

_We received notice that you used a Full-Body Bind at half past noon on the thirtieth June. We also received notice that you performed a Silencing Charm at half past directily after the Full-Body Bind._

_You remember you are not allowed to use magic outside of school before you graduate._

_However, given the circumstances, we must congratulate you. We also received notice of what Mr. Flint was doing to you—so he'l be getting a notice as well. No punishment will be issued to you, as this was a life-threatening situation. _

_Have a good summer holiday._

_Good day,_

_Mathilda Hopkins,_

_Improper Use of Magic director_

Lily thought her eyes were deceiving her. "So it's okay?"

"Looks like it to me," said Vanessa. "Mine was only different in the times it said and that it said something about 'saving your friend's life'."

Lily laughed. "I never did thank you. Thanks."

"Not a problem."


	11. AUTHOR'S NOTE AND REVIEW ANSWERS

This is another instance where an author's note is necessary. 

I got a few reviews, so my responses will be put on here--for now that is, once I write chapter 21 (and 22 depending on length) this will be altered to include the new part.

I have a beta reader for this fic now....Emerald Eyed Cutie I will be emailing you....check your reviews, I'll be leaving something there.

Anyway, here's the responses for now.

**girlknight** (reviewed chapter one): I'm not sure if you actually read this because I posted the first seven chapters at once, but anyway I did check out your site posted--its ok, not my fave.

**lilyfan** (reviewed chapter ten): glad you like the ideas--hopefully some more inspiration comes soon. I just need a bit more 'fluff' until the consciences take over...

**tootrickyforyou** (reviewed chapter ten): first point--about the chapters--I was trying something new, where the chapters were like 'scenes' in a movie...that's why they are short and I put two per 'chapter'...if it seriously bugs you let me know, I just figured that way there's less clicking....how do you do the ¿§¿§¿§¿§¿§ things anyway? they look cool. Going more in depth will come later--once lily's and james' consciences start to kick in. Glad to know that you like my writing and how it flows well...thank you.


End file.
